BACKGROUND-AIM:
Improved stop smoking care in primary care offers a huge opportunity to prevent chronic disease and improve public health. For healthcare professionals in primary care, recommended stop smoking care can be summarised as “Ask, Advise and Act”. This study describes the impact on of better enabling referral to stop smoking services through electronic referral.

METHODS:
In April 2021, an integration between the HealthLink system and QuitManager, the national patient management system for Stop Smoking Services went live, enabling electronic referral from GP information systems to Health Service Executive (HSE) Stop Smoking Services. On receipt, referral processors contact the client and offers them stop smoking support. The HSE Tobacco Free Ireland Programme tracks the number of referrals and the outcome of these referrals on a monthly basis. In 2024, a further enhancement allows GPs to receive referral outcome messages and discharge notification messages relating to the client’s referral and episode of care.

RESULTS:
In 2024, 4848 referrals were received from GPs via HealthLink; this compares to 707 in 2021, 1857 in 2022 and 3,566 in 2023. In 2024, 48% accepted the service, 38% were uncontactable, 1% duplicate referrals and 13% declined the service. Highlighting of the availability of electronic referral during an ICGP webinar resulted in an increased number of referrals (n=445) and number of practices (n=236) referring in November 2023. In 2023, the average number of practices referring was 158 per month. This has grown to 220 per month in 2024 (an increase of 39%).

CONCLUSIONS:
Enabling electronic referral to stop smoking services from primary care providers can improve stop smoking care provision to clients. The HSE Tobacco Free Ireland Programme is building on this foundation with educational resources and feedback through collaboration with the ICGP to maximise the key role primary care can play in tackling the harm caused by smoking in Ireland.